New Tools to Examine Shared DNA Matches on MyHeritage

We’re happy to announce the release of a couple of new additions to your Shared DNA Matches on MyHeritage which will give you easier access to essential information about your shared matches. We now indicate whether your Shared DNA Matches appear in a family tree on MyHeritage, and whether you have added a note to a given shared match. We also allow you to access that family tree, or that note, directly from the Shared DNA Matches section of the Review DNA Match page. Both these additions were requested by our users.

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DNA Matches are people who share DNA segments with you that were likely inherited from one or more common ancestor. With our DNA database on MyHeritage constantly growing, DNA users may have thousands of DNA Matches. Managing all those matches and determining how you may be related to them is one of the main challenges our users encounter.

Shared DNA Matches are people who are genetically related to both you and your DNA Match. Having Shared DNA Matches with one of your DNA Matches can increase the confidence in that match and help you determine which side of the family that match may come from.

Each Shared DNA Match shows the estimated relationship between you and the Shared DNA Match on the left, and the estimated relationship between your DNA Match and your Shared DNA Match on the right. 

In the middle, we display the Shared DNA Match along with the value of the Shared DNA Match for both you and your DNA Match. Beneath that, have added two new icons: a family tree icon and a note icon. Both icons will only be shown when relevant.

Family tree icon

Viewing a given DNA Match on a family tree can be helpful if you’re not sure how that match is related to you. One of the advantages of testing DNA with MyHeritage is that the DNA Matching integrates seamlessly with the family trees: if the user who tests or manages their DNA has built even a small family tree on MyHeritage, you will be able to see that tree and glean key information about their relationships — leading you to a better understanding of how they might be related to you. Knowing which of your Shared DNA Matches appear in a family tree and how big that tree is can help you decide which Shared DNA Matches to investigate first. 

The family tree icon will appear below a Shared DNA Match when that match appears in a tree on MyHeritage. 

Moving your mouse over the icon will display more details about the family tree in which they appear. Click “View tree” to visit their family tree. 

If this Shared DNA Match does not appear in a family tree on MyHeritage, the tree icon will not appear.

Notes icon

Keeping track of which DNA Matches you have reviewed and analyzed can be a daunting task when you have thousands of matches. To help you stay organized, the MyHeritage DNA Match list features a notes function: you can add notes to DNA Matches you have reviewed to keep track of any information you discovered, questions you’d like to resolve, or thoughts you may have had about a match. In case you aren’t familiar with this feature yet, we’ll include more details about how to use it below.

Accessing your notes directly from the Shared DNA Matches can save you a lot of time and help you connect the dots more easily. That’s why we added a notes icon below each Shared DNA Match. It will only be shown if you have already added a note to that person. 

If you have an existing note for a Shared DNA Match, the note icon will appear beneath their profile photo. Hover your cursor over this icon to read the note. You can even edit the note directly from here by clicking “Edit notes.”

How to add a note to a DNA Match

We strongly recommend documenting hints and conclusions in notes. You can add a note to a DNA Match by clicking the note icon on the top right corner of the match card on your list of DNA Matches.

The icon will turn purple once you have added a note, so you can easily spot DNA Matches with notes attached from your DNA Match List. Click the purple note icon to read or edit the note.

Conclusion

Shared DNA Matches — people who match both you and your DNA Match — can help increase your confidence that a given DNA Match truly is related to you, and can give you important clues as to how. The ability to access additional information directly from this section makes it easier than ever to find out more about your DNA Matches, resolve questions about your relationships with them, and make progress with your research. We hope you enjoy these new additions!